Chapter 38
THIRTY EIGHT
RUELLA
For the second time in only a handful of days, I wake up groggy and disoriented, my hands tied behind my back. At least this time it isn’t Asher and the others standing over me.
I take a quick scan of the space, and my nose wrinkles in disgust. The cement floor is stained with a nauseating mix of liquids, urine, something rancid I can’t name, and mould creeping along the edges of the walls. The stench hangs heavy, sour and clinging, making my stomach churn.
The walls are a yellowing white, paint peeling in wide strips, curling like dead skin.
Black streaks of damp and mildew streak down from the corners where the ceiling meets the walls, and in some places, chunks of plaster have fallen, leaving raw patches of cement exposed.
Dust and debris coat the floor, sticking to my ankles when I shift slightly.
There are no windows, only a narrow crack along the side wall, where a freezing draft slips in, biting into my already cold skin.
The air is thick with rot and mildew, every breath tasting of decay.
A rat scurries somewhere out of sight, claws scraping against the floor, and I can hear the faint drip of water from somewhere far above.
A subtle shift behind me makes my head snap around, heart hammering, searching for the culprit in the oppressive, filthy gloom.
“Piper?” My voice comes out slurry and uncontrolled.
“Rue?” Her bloodshot eyes turn to me then dart around the room as mine did previously. Her face confused then utterly horrified.
“No. No, No, No. This can’t be happening,” She shakes her head violently from side to side.
“Calm down Piper, I will get you out of this. I promise,” I tell her before murmuring to myself. “I will get you out if it is the last thing I do,”
Her shoulders start to shake, and her cries vibrate through my entire body.
I don’t have time to cry or dwell on what might happen here. We need to move quick before we are transferred.
“Can you reach my thigh from where your hands are?” I try to shift to move the chair I am tied too, lining up her fingers with my shorts. “I have a small knife high up, if you get it then I can cut us free,”
She nods, tears free flowing down her face. “I can feel it,” Her hands work fast to try and unclip the pocketknife I am so thankful I decided to keep on me tonight. “Almost there,” She grunts, her hands fumbling with the angle we are at.
“Got it,” She shouts but the banging of a door down the hallway has us freezing. Footsteps travel towards us, and I can’t grab hold of the knife fast enough.
“Piper, I am going to need you to cut your binding free but if someone walks through that door, even if my hands are still bound. I will distract them while you run. Understand,”
“What. No way,”
“Promise me. Please. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you,”
“What about me?” She whispers as the footsteps get closer, her hand working fast against the ties. “You expect me to live with myself if I get out and you get taken, or worse,”
“You have a lot to live for Piper,” My heart starts pounding as I search the floor for something to use as another weapon. “I should have never made it this far in the first place. It’s a miracle I made it to twenty-three,” I shrug.
“You think Asher won’t tear the world apart looking for you,”
“If that is true then I have nothing to fear. You will be safe, and Asher will find me eventually,”
“Rue, I am not…” The door handle lowers as Piper’s tie pings open. It lands on the floor beside me, so I place my bare foot on top.
“Keep quiet and try mine now,” I whisper as a head of brown hair on a traitorous bitch walk through the door. The usually timid and shy woman no longer in sight as she holds her head high, a smile on her face as she takes us both in.
“Ah, we are both awake,” Deena smiles. “And I was afraid you would be transferred before I could see that look on your faces,” She chuckles and I bite my tongue to keep from spouting venom.
“Nothing to say?” She asks me directly. “Aw, but you always have something to say Ruella,” She steps into the room, her black boots splashing in a puddle that I am hoping isn’t urine.
“I have to hand it to you though, you aren’t as insufferable as Marlowe was. That bitch thought she was queen fucking bee. Look where her arrogance got her hmm,” She laughs as Piper works on my ties, her arms holding steady as to not give us away.
“I had a sweet thing going until she tried snatching Piper. My job was to work the home while hers was to find suitable girls at the academy,” She continues almost in her own daydream. Like she has been dying to tell us her story and to find her anything but weak and timid.
“Do you know why she chose you Piper?” Piper freezes, her hands halting all movement as Deena comes to stand before her.
“Because Asher turned her down then proceeded to shag Darcy,” She cackles.
“How hilarious is that Rue. Guess you and your sister have the same taste in men,” My jaw hurts with how hard I clench it.
She comes before me and bends to eye level. “Do you think you would still fancy him if he had fucked Marlowe,”
“Probably,” I shrug unbothered. “Everyone makes questionable decisions when they are unhappy and angry at the world,”
“Hmm. Boring,” Deena’s phone buzzes, her attention flicking to it. Piper uses that time to cut through the last of my binding, this time I keep it in my hands.
“Well ladies, this is where we part ways. Piper have fun with your new man. I should warn you though, everyone’s first time hurts, but by the extra few months he was made to wait plus his list of kinks, I would expect extreme pain,” I feel the terror emanating from Piper and I promise to unleash this pent-up rage onto Deena as soon as I can catch her off guard.
“And Rue, I’m sure you are no stranger to pain,” she grins. “But with you no longer being a virgin, you will more than likely be sent to please the team for a while. Until you are all used up and worthless,”
My fists clench.
“One question before you go,” She spins back around, coming close to me. I clench Piper’s hand in mine and squeeze tight three times, praying she reads my plea to get ready to run. She squeezes back.
“Why do you do it?”
She snorts. “Because girls like us don’t get to live happy lives like them.
They treat people like dirt and use and abuse them as they see fit.
It is only fair we do the same to them,” She clicks her tongue.
“It’s a shame really. I kind of liked you before you started pushing your nose in other people’s business.
Even tried to warn you away, but you never listened,”
“The attack and the note, were you?”
“The attack no,” She smirks. “But the note. That was me,” She stands to full height.
“Anyhoo. Goodbye girls and goodlu…” She never finished her sentence because I jump up and punch her in the mouth, her head flying back as she lands on the dirty floor.
“Run. Now,” I snap at Piper, climbing on top of Deena and punching her again to keep her from screaming. I have no clue how many others there are, but I hope Piper can make it far enough.
Deena scratches at my arm where I hold her by the t-shirt, my fist pounding into her blow after blow. An animalistic anger takes over my body as Piper runs past me and through the doorway.
I don’t stop until her arm falls limp by her side. I grin down at my handy work as blood trickles down my face from where it has splattered. I notice a cut on her upper cheek, three on her lips and a missing tooth. I stand above her.
“Anyhoo, goodbye bitch,”
I edge into the darkened hallway. One lightbulb flickers weakly before the staircase, the brief flashes casting long, jittering shadows along the walls.
I have no weapons, Piper took my knife, but my eyes catch a glint on the floor: a hand-sized shard of glass among the tiny fragments.
I scoop it up, fingers trembling, and hold it ready.
If they want me, they’ll get me swinging, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll take a few of them with me.
I climb the stairs slowly, each footfall deliberate, my back pressed to the cold wall. The silence above is suffocating. Every shallow breath feels loud enough to betray me, echoing softly in the hollow space.
At the top, a door stands slightly ajar, a sliver of light spilling through the gap.
I press my face close, straining to see without giving myself away.
The room beyond is empty, yet alive with shadow.
Dark wooden pews sit in rigid rows, dust-coated and broken in places, facing the left where the altar would have been.
Stone walls, long surrendered to time, are pierced with foliage; roots snake across the floor, climbing as if the building itself is being devoured by the forest.
I edge closer, every step careful, until I can see the source of the light. Moonlight pours through a massive stained-glass window, scattering shards of colour across the ruined interior. The colours dance like restless spirits over the cracked floorboards, painting everything in fractured beauty.
And then I recognize it. That window. Relief washes over me in a quiet, trembling wave. We’re still on academy grounds.
I jump when I see a darkened figure crouched down behind a pew at the far other side of the room, the one closest to the large wooden doors that are slightly askew but still standing.
I grab the shard tight as I silently push through the doorway and into the main of the church. I crouch down as the figure, sneaking up to it as I once again scan the area for anyone else.
I am one pew away when Pipers terrified face turns back at me. The figure is Piper, she’s still in here. I go to move near her when another side door opens, and two male voices start to talk. I turn to her and mouth run.
She shakes her head. “Not without you,” She whispers and I grimace checking if the men heard, but their voices still bounce back and forth.